


Celebration

by stateofintegrity



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stateofintegrity/pseuds/stateofintegrity
Summary: Follows the episode "Promotion Commotion."
Relationships: Maxwell Klinger/Charles Emerson Winchester III
Kudos: 8





	Celebration

“Were you proud of your boyfriend today, Charles?” Pierce asked, playfully elbowing him. The stuffy surgeon’s face had gone so soft when Klinger had abandoned his military pose (it was always ever a pose with Klinger) to ask, “Well? How did I do?” 

They were in the O club, shuffling the last of the promotion papers and sharing a drink. BJ joined in. “Don’t think we didn’t see the upraised hands. You reserve that kind of clapping for the symphony.” 

Charles took momentary refuge in his glass. “Gentlemen, the newly minted Sergeant Klinger is not my boyfriend.” He waited a beat and savored a private smile. “He is my betrothed. Or he will be after tonight.” 

There was jumping and screaming and exclamations then and he had to wait for his two idiot friends to calm down before he could say more. 

“You waited for his promotion to make things more acceptable to your family, right?” Pierce joked. 

“No. I would propose if he were a private. It seemed a nice way to honor his ascent to a new rank, however.” 

“You say ‘propose’ like you mean it,” said BJ. “It’s illegal, no?” 

“Technically, I guess that it will be an adoption of sorts rather than a marriage, but it will serve to make him my heir and confer upon him the care of my life as I take on caring for him. It’s enough.” 

Hawkeye gripped his hand in happiness. “Please let me throw you a party. We can say it’s for something else but I need to see you dance with him.” 

“I’ll think about it. Let me ask the man first, Pierce.” 

“Klinger’s a romantic, Charles. Don’t mess it up.” 

The surgeon looked so offended it might have been his first days at the unit, but his words belied this. “Gentlemen, I have asked the Sergeant for many things. He has not yet said no even once.” 

***

Preparing a celebration in war-torn Korea was no easy task, but, thankfully Klinger’s old tent still housed the Klinger collection, which made it the perfect spot to meet after the moon was high. Charles was there and waiting when his newmade Sergeant appeared, buttons glinting on his class As. Charles had claimed to want to see him in the garb of his new rank, but what he really wanted was to slowly reduce him to that blessed state known as “out of uniform.” 

As soon as the door closed behind him, Charles took his hand and one knee. Klinger gaped down at him but didn’t draw away. “Sergeant Maxwell Q. Klinger, I cannot ask you to marry me the way that I wish you could, but I can ask you to share my life here and hereafter. Will you?” 

“But your family,” Klinger protested, putting Charles’ happiness at the forefront as he always did. 

“Darling, say ‘yes,’ and you  _ become  _ my family.” 

“Oh.”

“Maxwell, need I remind you that my policy about kneeling is that I only do so if I believe I will arise a better person?”

Klinger smiled and tugged at his hand. “Better get up then. You’ve always been out of my league so saddling yourself with me probably isn’t an improvement!” 

Charles stayed kneeling for one more beat. “That was a ‘yes?’”

“Of course.” 

He lowered his head a moment to hide the emotions causing his eyes to well, but something about the quality of Klinger’s smile said that he hadn’t been entirely successful- and that Klinger loved him for it. Then he trailed his fingers over the marks of rank newly sewn onto his lover’s sleeve. 

“How would you like to celebrate this elevation in rank, Sergeant?”

“Military rank or social rank?” Klinger teased. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have outclassed me from the first with your white gloves and your daring mouth. If anyone is being elevated by this union, it’s me.” 

Klinger loved him for saying so. He knew their friends wondered about the oddness of the match - an immigrant kid from Toledo who spoke Arabic first and English second and  _ Charles _ !?!? No one had suggested he was in it for the money (they knew his heart too well for that) but they did wonder how it worked. (Hawkeye’s wondering even dipped into the prurient, but Klinger refused to satisfy his curiosity other than to give a smile so satisfied it made the Captain threaten to cut a hole in the tent.) He also knew that Winchester stood to lose - a lot - by throwing his lot in with Klinger’s, but Charles never let him worry about it. “I own a house free and clear,” he reminded him in his moments of concern. “You, Honoria, cognac - it will be a very happy home.” 

“Well?” Charles prompted. 

“Could we pretend we’re home?” the new minted Sergeant asked. 

“Home?” 

“If we’re gonna be married, we’ll have evenings at home, right? That’s what I’m excited for. Regular, normal, everyday.” 

It convulsed his heart, this wish. “Alright, my love.”  _ My life.  _ “Let’s play house.”

“Just until we go home.”

Knowing that he would get to return home with the darling Sergeant, Charles would have agreed to anything at all.

End! 


End file.
